“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Friday, 25 August 2017

New music from Clipping., LCD Soundsystem, Robert Plant and other human beings.

THE BEST:

‘Looking Glass’ –
Lone

Lone’s discography is so vast and yet so consistent in quality.
This latest house single pounds along before slowly revealing some magic sparkly
chords along with some surprise ray gun synths breaking out over the top.

‘The Deep.’ –
Clipping.

The Californian experimental hip hop project are showing off
again with a track that continuously speeds up. Produced to sound like its
underwater, the beat builds pressure with each verse, whilst Daveed Diggs
accelerates the tempo of his flow. Could there be another Clipping album on the horizon?

‘tonite’ – LCD Soundsystem

This year,we’ve
already been blessed with two singles ‘American Dream’ and ‘Call the Police’
from the synth-rockers. Their latest track centres around a pulsing electro
beat and is accompanied by a video which sees the band playing live whilst
James Murphy swaggers around them singing into the camera.

‘The May Queen’ – Robert Plant

By this point I thought the Led Zep frontman would be past
it. But he’s still managing to release interesting solo stuff, this time mixing
folk with flecks of electronica. His voice meanwhile has aged like fine wine.

‘Like I Always’ – Kev
Minney

From his upcoming astronomically-themed album, Kev releases
this new single ‘Like I Always’. The track blends acoustic guitar and digital
percussion topped with some hypnotically emotive vocals.

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Just as the rest of the world has grown pessimistic, pop's most forlorn femme fatale has rather ironically decided to cheer up. She's even managed to break a smile on the album cover (I didn't think she was capable of that facial expression), not to mention the album title itself.

But fans of her sad side needn't worry – she hasn't embraced ukuleles just yet. Most of
these tracks revolve around familiar melancholy tales of unrequited love.
However, there are rose-tinted glimmers of joy this time around. ‘When The
World Was At War We Kept Dancing’ is a rally to keep on being happy despite
current events, whilst closing track ‘Get Free’ sees Lana singing ‘I want to move out of the black into the
blue’ with a sense of joyous liberation.

Sure, there could be a sly cynicism behind it all – it’s
hard to tell with Lana – but even so it’s given Lana’s lyricism a new
dimension, which makes this album more enjoyable that its predecessors. It’s also a lot more instrumentally
interesting.

2014’s Ultraviolence
wasn’t just depressing but impressively dull largely down to its drab production. Honeymoon contrastingly saw Lana
embracing a Bond Theme-esque backdrop of exciting orchestration topped with smoky
crooning in the style of Dusty Springfield. Now on Lust For Life, the instrumentals are even more diverse, dabbling in
hip hop on ‘Summer Bummer’ and ‘Groupie Love’ whilst taking on pianos and
guitars and string sections.

The vocal guests are a disappointment for the most part.
Whilst A$AP Rocky's performance is average, Playboi Carti’s auto-tuned whelps on ‘Summer
Bummer’ are plain irritating. Stevie Nicks meanwhile oversings her duet with Lana as if trying to outdo her younger version, whilst Sean Ono Lennon just sounds like he’s trying to
be his dad (can’t kids of famous musicians carve out their own sound?).

Fortunately, Lana’s newfound vocal agility makes up for
this. 'White Mustang’ and ‘In My Feelings’ are some of her most beautifully sung ballads to date, whilst ‘Get
Free’'s chorus is her most sunshiny (even if the opening chord progression is ripped straight from Radiohead’s ‘Creep’).

Monday, 21 August 2017

I take the time to
talk to Mancunian experimental rock band Pool Art about fidget spinners,
nuclear war and their new ethereal EP.

Titled Chamber Piece,
Pool Art’s new EP certainly seems fit for a torture chamber. Its 5 songs are drowned
in reverb and distorted in all kinds of ghastly effects. The result is music so
dark you can barely make out the hand in front of you. The mixture of melodic
vocals and dissonant guitars show clear elements of doom metal and shoegaze,
but whilst such genres tend to be long and meandering when it comes to song-writing,
Pool Art’s songs feel very succinct and even punky as is certainly the case with
‘It’s A Hatewatch’.

The result is a rock sound that’s fresh. And yet the duo still
manage to find an equilibrium between having a distinct sound but still making each
song diverse enough from the next. Opener ‘Misery Porn’ is comparatively upbeat
and groovy, whilst ‘It’s a Hatewatch’ and ‘Died Off Screen’ are more frantic
pieces made up of harsh squeals and clangs (with the exception of the latter
track’s rhythmic outro). Closing dirges ‘Gender Balance’ and ‘Don’t Feed Me To
Them’ meanwhile explore the band’s slower and more ambient side, both landing
up in the chasms of Hell as they devolve into noisiness. The swamp of reverb
makes it hard to distinguish most of the lyrics, but from the track titles alone
you can sense that it’s gloomy and agitated stuff.

Frontman Scott Fair was able to take time out from
crucifying his guitar to answer a few questions about the band’s music and the
process behind these creative sounds…

If PoolArt was a pizza what toppings would it have?

It'd probably have
like a Marmite base with some other polarising food as a topping, maybe
something unusual like 90% cocoa dark chocolate.

You guys have a sound that’s hard to pin down. I hear glimmers of
everything from shoegaze to doom metal to grunge to ambient in your sound. Is
it safe to say you have a lot of influences?

Yeh, I think most interesting artists do. We like listening to lots of new things and
discovering old things and I think we do make a conscious effort to combine
music that excites us in an obvious way, we wear our influences on our sleeves.
I think our stuff is interesting because it's varied and these elements we bring
together, although on paper they may clash, actually can work interestingly
together on some level.

What’s the creative process behind these nightmarish guitar sounds?
Do you spend lots of time playing around with effects and pedals until
something sticks? Are there tapes of other experimental recordings?

I do tinker with pedals a lot, but I
don't have a big selection of them and I like creating within that limitation.
It's really great when you start to re-use an unusual sound or combination of
effects across your writing, as it ends up being a thread that ties things
together. I do make slightly less accessible stuff with my other project Of The Antarktik, which is a solo venture. I'm not sure how "experimental"
anything that we're doing is as I think the term has adopted quite a different
meaning for music in recent history, I feel the people who make the pedals that
I use are the experimental ones.

You guys have recorded music in art galleries and
warehouses. What’s an unusual location that you’d love to record music in?

Buildings that have a story are cool
because it feels like you absorb some of the history of that space in the
recording. There's a video of a girl singing down a well that's been doing the
rounds online and I was really impressed by the reverb that this well produces,
I think it was recorded on a phone too, so unexpected places would be most
exciting. I remember hearing this weird almost robotic slap delay in my
stairwell and trying for a while to capture that without much success.

Can we expect any music videos one day? I’d love to see these
sounds visually complemented.

We have a video for 'It's A Hatewatch' coming very soon, it was made by the exceptionally talented Will Shields, who
has also snapped some amazing photos for us. He has a great eye and wanted to
do a one take video in a dark and creepy location, it turned out great. He
loves black and white too. It's quite a subtle video, which is an interesting
marriage with what is a very unsubtle song. Hatewatch is the song that has had
the worst response from people so it made sense for us to focus on that and
really force it down people's throats.

What music are you listening to right now? Anything fans wouldn’t
expect

So much, it's too easy to find amazing
music these days, which arguably sours the reward a touch. In terms of
unexpected stuff though maybe 'clipping.' is the one that stands out.
I remember a friend of Lee mentioning them some time ago and months later
I stumbled on this KEXP session they did and they are all so talented. I really
love Wriggle and their latest Splendor & Misery is something very special.
Definitely watch that KEXP performance.

If PoolArt owned a swimming pool what would it
be like?

Probably filled with blood that moved
gently and in slow motion. A pool designed by
David Lynch!

When are PoolArt fidget spinners hitting the shelves?

Still trying to shift T-Shirts so
they're probably a way off. I did see a Simon The Magpie, who makes pedals,
using one in a pretty interesting way recently though.

Who will win in the imminent nuclear war – Kim Jon Un, Trump
or PoolArt?

If it happens, no-one. I hope it never
happens.

What else does the future hold for PoolArt?

I'm genuinely excited about what comes
next, I've truly enjoyed everything that's happened so far and can't wait to
share more music and get in front of more audiences. We're going to take a
little break after Chamber Piece though, but we'll be back soon.

Friday, 18 August 2017

Don't get depressed over dumb terrorists and stupid Nazi rallies. Cheer yourself up with these tunes.

THE BEST:

‘Feels like Heaven’ –
Ariel Pink

Eccentric experimentalist Ariel Pink is sounding less noisy than he was on ‘Time To Live’, instead giving us some reverb-soaked lovesick
New Wave. The haze of rose-tinted guitars and sunny synths are so beautiful
that I’m willing to bask in the schmaltziness of the lyrics.

‘Fathers Day’ – NONA

BUT FATHER’S DAY WAS TWO MONTHS AGO??? Alright, keep your
hair on, this isn’t a Father’s Day anthem per se, but more a reflection on
fatherhood as the LA band’s frontman looks back at his own relationship with
his dad. The pensive tone is backed by rose-tinted guitars, just in case you
needed an extra fix of rose-tinted guitars this week. It's encouraging stuff from this new
wistful indie act.

‘Junky’ –
Brockhampton

This Texas collective of oddball rappers, self-described as
the ‘internet’s first boy band’, has been releasing a steady stream of
ultra-cool visuals. The music itself has been fairly decent too, but I’ve been
waiting for them to wow me enough to jump aboard the hype train. Well, on this
single they’ve converted me – set to a tense beat, the members spend each verse
of this song digging up their insecurities. They’re all kooky characters and
here their kookiness is allowed to shine through.

‘There You Go’ – Saba

Introduced to us via Chance the rapper, fellow Chicago hip
hop artist Saba has been working on his own brand of feelgood rap. His beats
keep getting jazzier whilst his flow is smooth like butter - or to quote the
opening line’s South Park reference: ‘I’m
butter like Leopold’.

‘Scars’ - T H i S

I DiD THiNK ABOUT WRiTiNG A WHOLE REViEW LiKE THiS, but
thought better of it. Thankfully, the weirdly-stylised band name isn’t the only
thing unique about these Welsh rockers. The riffage in this menacing single is
pretty creative, particularly the schizopherenic section at the end.

THE WORST:

‘Empty Barn 3’ – Roro Perrot

This guy has three ‘empty barn’ songs on his channel of him
howling horribly whilst savagely strumming an out-of-tune acoustic guitar. It’s
not exactly a single, but I thought I ought to share my bafflement with the
world.

Friday, 11 August 2017

For years, the class clown of the rap game has been showing
us glimpses of his serious side as on gems such as ‘Bastard’ and ‘Answer’. It’s
hard to invest yourself in these touching moments when the rest of the songs
are loaded with masturbation references and ‘golfwang’ chants and rape jokes.

On Cherry Bomb it
seemed we were getting a more mature Tyler once and for all. The flows were
tighter too and the production was some of his most soulful yet. However, despite
the graceful female vocal harmonies and motivational lyrics of a track like ‘Find
Your Wings’, there was still a track like ‘Blow My Load’ crass enough to reset
the tone back to rock bottom. The mixing was also off in places and Tyler’s attempts
to sing were plain awful.

By contrast, Scum Fuck
Flower Boy – in spite of its title – may just be the rapper’s most sincere
work. He’s taken off the clown costume and decided to open up about all his
insecurities without the slightest smear of irony. The headlines have all been obsessed with Tyler’s coming out, and whilst he does reference his sexuality with
several lines throughout the LP (‘I’ve
been kissing white boys since 2004’), it’s the way Tyler tackles the theme
of loneliness and heartbreak that really leaves a mark.

Flower Boy shows the introspective side to being an extrovert with
Tyler’s most personal verse coming towards the end of ‘911/Mr. Lonely’ with confessional lines like ‘the loudest in the room is
probably the loneliest in the room’.

Most the instrumentation is heavily jazzy. Tyler’s beats
have always relied heavily on jazz-flavoured chords, but here he seems to be
weaving intricate compositions out of jazz ideas, peppered with other stylings from electronica, trap and neo-soul. One of his most detailed beats is the labyrinthine backdrop of ‘Garden
Shed’. It meanders off in all directions, but rather than feeling messy like many of the beats on Cherry Bomb, there’s a sense of clear
direction from start to finish.

And of course there are still some fun bangers in the mix
such as ‘Who Dat Boy’ and ‘I Ain’t Got Time’ where Tyler gets confrontational
over distorted tuned kick drums. These are less obnoxious than previous Tyler
bangers (no ‘golfwang’ chants in sight) but
still just as cartoonishly playful as is traditional Tyler style.

The rapper could still improve by taking a few singing lessons, as this part of his musicianship still leaves a lot to be desired.
The shaky crooning on the likes of ‘911’ and ‘Glitter’ give Flower Boy an amateurish feel that isn’t
charming – it’s just painful on the ears.

Shaky singing aside however, the remainder of the music is
proficiently handled. For once Tyler is sounding like a professional,
dropping speedy flows and making lyrical quips that aren't just there to shock. His
beats meanwhile are masterfully crafted – quite possibly some of the best beats
we’ll hear this year. If you’ve previously dismissed Tyler as a troll, now may be the time
to start paying attention.

I really tried to hate on some songs this week, but nothing
stood out to me as particularly hateable. Consequently it’s all tracks I loved
in this week’s selection.

‘Can You Talk To
People Around The World On The Internet?’ - Hot Dad

This is such a stupidly ingenious song concept, made better
by the beautifully retro synths and vocoders. I do hope Hot Dad’s dreams of communicating
to people around the world on the internet come true.

‘Hey Ho’ – oscar oscar

Is ‘ground-breaking’ too hyperbolic a word to use? That's certainly the way I feel towards the alien clicks and chimes kicking off this track. And if the production didn't bring enough of a unique flavour, the Brisbane artist then decides to top it off
with a matchless vocal style made up otherworldly quivering falsettos. It’s
wonderfully weird – the stuff us bloggers get off to.

‘LMK’ - Kelela

I couldn’t be asked to set up an Apple Music account, but nevermind, I
can finally join in the hype now that there’s a music video on Youtube - and what a cool
music video it is! The alt-r&b songstress parades through a futuristic nightclub whilst donning a myriad of different coloured wigs. Her sound meanwhile continues
to be a more danceable version of FKA Twigs, whilst also serving as a more
eccentric version of Tinashe. It's the best of both r&b worlds.

‘Without Love’ – Alice
Glass

Alice Glass was formerly frontwoman of an electropunk group
called Crystal Castles. Now the singer is going at it solo to a backdrop of
equally glitched out and warped electronica beats. She’s planning on touring with Marilyn Manson, who may well have been an influence on the creepy video, which sees her writhing around like she needs an exorcist surrounded by vines.

‘Desire’ – Everything Everything

There are some parts of this song that are startlingly
Muse-like. But these UK indie rockers have always been more silly than
melodramatic, allowing them to pull off the theatrics more tastefully. I also
don’t know about you, but that fat guitar tone is delicious.